Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Isaiah 43:5-7

What We Did For Our First Thanksgiving in Mongolia

This Thanksgiving Blog post is brought to you by our sponsors- the C&MA Church of Russellville! We love and miss you guys — thank you so much for sending the great treats for Thanksgiving. Toby and Cinda are opening a package that Russellville sent with Jiffy Cornbread mix just in time to make cornbread casserole (a favorite).

Our family traveled 3 hours west of Darhan to to the town of Bulgan. Bulgan has about 13,000 people in it. Jeremy and Renee Bergevin graciously opened their home (pictured above) to all who wanted to come and celebrate Thanksgiving; yes, its a log home- Bulgan has a lot of timber around it and log homes are the norm.

Annika chows on some chicken.

Because there were so many families we had to eat in shifts. The kids went first filling tables upstairs and downstairs. The menu included chicken (we couldn’t get turkey but the roast chicken was fantastic- I wanted to sprinkle benadryl on it to simulate the tryptophan (sp?) in turkey but was turned down) fresh rolls, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole with the onions on top, jello jigglers, cornbread casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy and several other salads that I can’t recall. We had plenty of coffee circulating to go with pumpkin and apple pies.

The guys went outside to throw the football around while we watched the kids play on the frozen stream. Although there was snow (is snow) in Darhan there was none in Bulgan.

The cards came out to play some cribbage, euker and a serious game of Rook.

Uncle Larry gets kooky while entertaining Anna Wahlen.

The kids’ upstairs table.

Toby goes after his favorite food group, gravy.

We also got together to sing Christmas carols as a team and had a game of musical charades. You picked a slip out of a jar and had to come up with a song that fit the category.

Kids watching a movie upstairs before bed.

Superhero’s play together: Toby, Jack, and Levi

In some ways it was very easy to forget that we were in Mongolia- except for the ride home.

5 comments

How Wonderful to see these pictures and learn of how you celebrated Thanksgiving. Kudos for all the adults who did the planning and preparations. The menu sounded delicious. I am sure all the children enjoyed being together. And the adults as well. You are all a creative and adventuresome group.

Annika – good job of showing that you can look beautiful even with a Dad or Mom who takes pictures of you with your mouth full of chicken. I’m sure all the children had a wonderful Thanksgiving with so many playmates. It’s great that the team members were able to be together for this holiday.

I’m surprised to see such a good road even if there are sheep pedestrians to watch for. At least I’m guessing those are sheep. Are there “sheep crossing” signs like the deer crossing ones we have in SE MO? Or camel crossing signs?

Thanks for posting the photos of the children. Love from MO Mom and Granna

Thanks so much for the pictures and information. It’s nice to think of you having a traditional holiday, and being together with your missionary family–kinda like getting together with all the cousins. Did Mark carry on his job as the gravy maker?

The girls really enjoyed this blog. We thought Annika’s hair looks a little darker, or is it just the way the pictures came out? Abby says to tell you we really miss you.